Alpheral
Saint Alpheral Sunblade(732-806 AC), also born as Issac Klaus, known as simply Alpheral following his return of the titular blade to his home order, was an Urayan man of prominence, considered particularly holy by the Urayan faithful in Valmasia. In fact he was the second one to come to Valmasia, transgressing the Peace Barrier in a long boat lead by Priests of Elolel. A proud member of the All Gods convent and first Sacred Knight of Valmasia. Alpheral had several titles throughout his long life in Valmasia; ranging from Keeper of the Sunblade, Father of the Valley, Brenin of Nostvale, and Marshal of the Valley. While considered beloved by almost everyone within the former Wanderer's Valley, and a father and saint to those who worship the Gods, he is a more dividing figure to most others. Alpheral was seen by some as a coward, and by others as one of the chief heretics of the times; Particularly despised by the oscuri of Alteros. Suffice to say, you can speak to many, and receive a different opinion on him. Alpheral finally passed in a duel to the death against an the Oscuri Vindicator Korrin Sakete, after surviving many wars, torture, and having his soul assailed by the nameless sin mage of Gluttony. Attempting to sacrifice himself for the good of his people in a duel to appease attackers on the Valley, Alpheral finally departed to the side of the Gods in the year 806. Appearance Alpheral was an homely man by all accounts, Scarred heavily along most of the front of his body with some of the most heavy scars on his face. Quite a portion of his skin presented with numerous torture scars and his face was also marked from many of his battles; including when a portion of his face was burnt off. Alpheral did present one trait somewhat uncommon in Uray, as his hair was a natural navy rather than the sun-kissed hues typical of his home. Typically keeping his hair at medium length and well groomed. His most striking feature was a magnificent beard that was said by almost all in Valmasia to be some of the finest facial hair they have ever seen- It is at least in this point that almost everyone can agree on with Alpheral. One feature from his long years of using the Sacred power was golden eyes, not even having any trace of white nor their original color. Almost never found without wearing his garb of a Sacred Knight, his armor was always well tended and shined often by his own hand even in his more advanced years. Combined with a pair of goggles that he wore in his workshop and a blue cloak. On his armor as is all members of his order wear was symbols of each of the Gods. Alpheral claimed these symbols whispered him the words of his gods. History Beginnings Alpheral arrived in search of the legendary weapon of his order, the Sunblade, during the reign of Eline Sakete, at age 16(748 AC)- Corroborated by his acquisition of a magic license under the Sakete empress' reign. His youth and young adulthood was primarily spent within Nostvale, where, following the fall of the Empress, the emergent Urayan foreigner campaigned greatly to increase the living conditions of the downtrodden and common of Nostvale. He quickly rose, for his dedication and verve in terms of handling the commonfolk, and was soon made the right hand of King Biorr of Nostvale. During this time, he proselytized to the smallfolk, and a handful of people came to believe in the palpable effect of the Urayan faith's influence. Oftentimes attributing his charity and time to a product of his faith, the more broken people of Nostvale would flock to both his food and his words. A few minor magi underwent the rites he brought to rededicate their circuits to the Gods, becoming sacred knights- While the process was and is considered 'repulsive' to magi of Valmasia in terms of warping of circuits, his segregated sect was nonetheless known for it's charity and assistance within Nostvale for a decade. With the help of his followers, he eventually reclaimed the sacred relic of the All Gods, the Sunblade, and was usually known by it as his surname thereafter. When Alterosi slavers back in the yearly 750s threatened Nostvale's wellbeing, Alpheral and his handful of Sacred Knights were prominent on the battlefield, and when many were captured during the significant bout and rout that cost King Biorr his life, Alpheral was imprisoned and tortured at the hands of Vindicator Qaelthan personally, for his pagan ways. Feigning conversion under the duress, Alpheral managed enough freedom to organize a breakout of his fellow Nostvalians and followers alike from the island, using Sacred Magic to bypass an exception in the runes as to the type of magic he wielded. With no Urayans having previously been held within Valmasia, the risky gambit worked, and the man successfully freed many prisoners from war from the city before the Glacium's wrath bore down upon it. Regency of Nostvale Returning to the city, the wife of Biorr, Queen Rahkt Hawthorne, resigned from the throne to pursue her old life of adventuring, leaving the most respected figure within the city as the King's former confidant in charge- Alpheral. Taking up the title of Brenin from his homeland, effectively a regent-protector, Alpheral inheriting the wardship of Princess Arteria Hawthorne, daughter of Rahkt and Biorr, and the dethroned and disinherited Zahilekim Sakete. He swore loyalty to the then tender aged princess of Nostvale, and to her blood and all of her descendants until death. Up until being claimed by the plague in the year 777, Arteria was a worshipper of the Gods and would write her foster father letters on a regular basis. Alpheral's reign was not considered particularly strong in terms of military forces, although great lengths were given to capitalize on the defensive. The majority of the Emperyon Legion, the predecessors of the Viridian Legion, were primarily trained in crossbowmanship and protective formations, around the Black Gate and walls of Nostvale. Alpheral's focus was on the domestic and did everything he could to better the life of the average man and woman in Nostvale, and as a result lived relatively simply- Having 'private residence' in only the barracks of the headquarters of the Sacred Knights he established and a simple room in the castle when tutoring Arteria. He was heavily focused on expanding the economic focus of Nostvale's breadbasket into dyes and similar items. However, Alpheral's reign over Nostvale came to a grim conclusion. After the rise of Sacra Jetniss Ravehart to power in Frostvale, attempts at diplomacy with the prideful Frostvalian ruler were strained and then turned hostile with nudging from Danarium and other sources. The spark of the Western War of 758 came from these sabotaged negotiations, when Jetniss Ravehart ordered the arrest of any Nostvalian civilians within Nostvale, including most notoriously, orphanage workers, after a heated correspondence with Brenin Alpheral. After, what was later revealed to be a false flag operation, people appearing to be Emperyon Legionnaires lead an unauthorized attack on the Frostvalian prisons, freeing the men and women of Nostvale along with a flurry of criminals, Jetniss declared war on Alpheral in 757. Most unfortuitously, Rahkt's return preceded the declaration of war by days, the rightful queen, by law, asking the man to cede the throne to her. Her reign was short, not even lasting the entirety of the war. Following her rise to power, the former prince and Alpheral's ward, Zahilekim, came to the court to press his claim to the throne in exchange for his assistance with his newfound magics- A depraved art of mind control. Alpheral outed the sinspawn before the entirety of Nostvale, citing his powers came from the sin of avarice claiming the boy. While Alpheral motioned for exile, Queen Hawthorne requested the budding sin magi be put to death immediately. Alpheral was betrayed by his former lover, Noell, for the Empress' son, and the boy escaped the executioner, Glenn Advarachio, by the skin of his teeth, leading to Nostvale's downfall. Alpheral was on the front lines against the attack in the year 757, when the initial assault on the Black Gate came into play. While initially a slaughter of the Nivis forces from crossbow bolts pelting down on futile attempts to break the adamantium portcullis, Greed's call gripped loyal legionnaires, forcing them to open it- Alpheral went to attempt to hold off Jetniss Ravehart personally, to no avail. While he held off the Sacra's wrath from the majority of his forces, he was greviously wounded by dragonfire and claw by the fullshifted northern monarch, and was barely rescued with his life by loyal men. When the Western War of 757 came to an end in 760, the final result was in a pullout of most military forces from the city as civilians to avoid the executions or trials for 'war crimes' that were promised by Jetniss. Fleeing the city under the orders of then Queen Rahkt Hawthorne, the coronation of Lucindra Stormwell lasted approximately 10 minutes, and her rule approximately 2 hours before Jetniss claimed the city. She is often not considered or listed as a ruler of Nostvale by historians. It is unknown whether he pulled back initially to Tilandre or Byson, but it is unanimously known and agreed he fled to the east. Exile Following the fall of Nostvale, Alpheral was spotted primarily within Tilandre, though at the time he pretended to be a leper under his birth name, Isaac Klaus. Operating a farmstead with what money he retained, Alpheral brought together the remains of the sacred knights, awaiting an opportunity to free Nostvale from Frostvalian hands. When he was summarily beaten to the punch by Namarre Sakete's assassination of Jetniss on the behalf of her lover in the year 765, he turned his focus entirely from any attempt to reclaim Nostvale, to create a new safe haven for the Urayan faith in Valmasia, in the Wanderer's Valley. During this time, he married Jayde Hawthorne- Previously Narifune, the adopted daughter of Rahkt during her few years as queen. While they enjoyed a loving, happy relationship, and she bore a daughter- Alicia Klaus, in the year 768, she was sadly cut down in her prime in the year 770 after an altercation with a kaor Yokai. As Father Masahiro Ninio of the valley passed away, his non-magi descendants squabbled over control of the region. With his usual demeanor generally charming the commonfolk in spite of his pagan ways, Alpheral assisted in bringing peace and order back from the infighting. While the Sacred Knight's church was considerably strange, their devotion to feeding the poor and unwanted made them a community staple as time went by, similarly to Nostvale. When the news of the plague cane, Alpheral was ultimately looked up to as a leader in the emergency oncoming. Alpheral assumed the onus of the Valley's leadership under the most dire of circumstances. Leadership of the Valley As the plague came in the year 775, the Valley was one of the most outlying and perhaps most direly struck of the victimized settlements during the plague. While the islet off of the Sarab was an oasis, it was still a small holding, and deeply withered and infected by the depravity and plague waters. Alpheral fasted during the period, drinking only a small amount of the water he and his sacred knights could purify for the people, and poisoned himself on the most putrid he could not save of rations in order to weather the period through. Browbeaten into a deal by King Uriel Melym and by his people's suffering, a deal was struck with Danarium. A portion of the food taken from Nostvale's stores by Danarium would go to feeding the starving and sick of the Valley in exchange for their assistance in the genocide of the oscuri. Weighing the matter heavily, Alpheral agreed for his people and the eradication of the undead, that they would march on Alteros. While Alpheral did not march with his troops, remaining back to oversee public order, the Valley participated in the genocide of the Oscuri in the year 777 during the plague. Pulling out before the other troops for self preservation, the deaths of many occultists, oscuri and legionnaires who had defected to Alteros were nobly attributed to the Sacred Knights, including the death of Konaa Hirano's student, Arrellia Montross, and driving the greed-enthralled Eurus Avharain from the battlefield. This heroism quickly changed to relief, when Danarium's promised aid came. The Valley survived and managed to weather through the plague on the blood-money of Alpheral's deal. Following the period of crisis, Alpheral was officially recognized as the leader of the valley, with most of the Ninio family perishing or crippled during the plague. He reigned for almost two decades, thereafter. Nonetheless, this began the origins of Nostvale and Alteros' dislike of the western entity due to Alpheral's loyalties during the plague war. Throughout his time as the ruler of the Valley, he would personally adopt many orphans and runaways that would come to him time and time again. He also, more alarmingly, lead to the deaths of a few by attempting to purge them of occult magic and depravity through raw applications of holy light. Being the adoptive father of Rachel Klaus, he was and is considered a grandfather of the Von Samson line. He was forced to relinquish an artifact of the Round Table to King Lloyd-Hector Avharain, due to the criminal actions of one of the children he was attempting to cure of occult madness against Byson and for attempted assault of then-Princess Chandra Avharain. Perhaps the most controversial of Alpheral's wives and lovers was the Adain of the Venificus who deserted Frostvale during the plague times- Shina Ishi, a healer and oscuri. Extremely atypical and occasionally posited as being deserted by Azrael, the woman was known for her running of a notable Soothe Reed plantation, and attributing it to her outlook. While she and Alpheral remained together long enough to have four children, her children notably in their teenage years or later abandoned the Valley, either forcibly, or with horror stories told to the people of Alteros of attempted induction via drugs and fasting to the Urayan faith. Nostvale and Alterosi still allege that many children taken in by Alpheral were forcibly converted or brainwashed in the same method- However, all non-Oscuri progeny would seem horrified by the very implication, and reject this as utter slander against their foster father by occultists and Azraelites. The challenge against Shina Ishi by Azeil Vindictus in the year 795 on the behalf of the pride of the Oscuri people in the lead to the end of Alpheral's active reign. Alpheral attempted to stop the duel from becoming lethal, only to become the victim of the Oscuri and the sin of gluttony- Dragged off through a rift in the confusion and a too quick to stop assault, as his wife accepted the duel and sent guards away, Alpheral returned emptied and missing innards, his memories jumbled and scattered, and heavily weakened. While he remained the moral leader of the Valley, his active days were done, retiring over the mantle of matters over to the younger generations- Kogarasu of the Scouts, and thereafter his son in law, Jackson von Samson. Final Days Alpheral remarried during his infirm times to a small Ookami girl named Marin who took care of him at his weakest, who took the Klaus surname. They had two children, and adopted many more, either officially or no. Nonetheless, even the mild peace they have wasn't to last. Following the existence of Central Valmasia, and the advent of the mimics, the war machine of the Mimics as well as the Black Circle rekindled by the doppelganger of Kudlak Malpercius marched on the Valley, aided and abetted by the Dal'hahnes clan and Alteros. Going to Alteros to attempt the wrongs against the Oscuri, Alteros, and Nostvale through blood and avert the deaths of his people, Alpheral accepted trial by combat against Vindicator Korrin Sakete and perished after a sound defeat in his crippled state. His heart was sacrificed and ostensibly used to officiate the ceremony of his traitorous step-daughter, Sable Ishi, and her husband Rafeles Dal'hahnes. To this day in the Urayan clergy, rumors abound that he was accepted amongst the pantheon of the Gods, and in Valmasia, occasionally prayers will be directed towards Saint Alpheral in the name of acceptance and patience for his fortitude and kindness to the small. Powers and Abilities * Sacred Power: Considered the strongest Sacred Power user in Valmasia, no one has matched his mastery over the Sacred Power in the land. Although Alpheral would be the first to say that his mastery of all the powers was nowhere near complete, he mastered the use of Sacred Light, Sacred Water, and Sacred Fire. He was also also a master of a form of barrier magic, power dubbed the 'Shields of Flud', which gave him the ability to create solid barriers of Sacred Light. * Gem Magic: A pioneer in the field of binding magic into jewels, Alpheral was adept at using gemstones to store spells and release them how he wished. Using the magic to benefit many in the Valley and others of the Urayan faith, his book on the magic has kept the study alive, if limited. * Cleansing: Considered to be one of the best in the field at healing occult madness and depravity, his work against this taint was well known and many came seeking his prowess in this field, though it resulted in the casualties of minor occultists in the process. * Sacred Knight Aura: As a Sacred Knight, Alpheral received the standard gifts of the order, including an extreme resistance to the taint of darkness and depravity, an increased healing factor, and the ability to bypass inexclusive anti-magic runes- Alpheral once used this power to escape an anti-magic cell in Alteros. * Multiple Languages: Alpheral picked up the spoken word of language pretty quickly, able to speak Urayan and Valmasian fluently and had a passing ability to speak Rancettian and Limina. The same could not be said for the written word as it took him many years to figure out the Valmasian written word. However, his existence as a non-native speaker of Valmasian did lead to a few faux pas. * Singing: While not a true power per say, Alpheral had an extremely pleasant tenor when he sang, often singing for the people with bards at festivals to entertain them. He was more adept to singing in Urayan than anything else. Trivia * Ruled the Wanderer's Valley the longest during the divided Village era, having ruled the Valley over forty years. No other city nor ruler could claim a term of that length. * Was the man who brought the faith of the Gods of Uray to the masses of Valmasia. * Alpheral was known for his belief in free love and polyamorism, taking several lovers during his time in between or during marriages. Category:Characters Category:Heroes Category:Uray